Thursday again!

Last night for A&S I started putting together my exhibit (ok, ok, a Power Point) on German embroidery for a demo on Sunday.  I even managed to stay mostly out of the rabbit hole. I'm freely borrowing images from museums and other sources (all credited of course), so I won't be posting the "slide show" but I think this will become the foundation of a new class for my rotation.

Current project list/status (SCA/Historic):

• Medallion for a coronation mantle -- Soon, soon I will be able to unleash the post about this.
• Motifs for coronation cloaks (different coronation) -- Two were finished and have been handed off.  I *think* they will be Monday's post, but they might wait depending on if I get photos of "in situ."  I will also be doing the remaining two and plan to take the cloaks and put all four in place according to the original vision and my plan.
• Planning for teaching.  On Sunday I'll be talking about German embroidery at a demo at the Philadelphia German Society.  I've started the slide show of photos and will be making up kits for those who want to try some hands on.  The kits will be squares of canvas and threads to do a motif in brick stitch.  This may well develop into a regular rotation class. 

• Marshall Hanging -- the very large Bayeux inspired piece that I've been working on (on and off) for just about forever.  Deadline, June 2016. I expect there will be an update post shortly. No additional work this week.

• Hem stitched square -- Now 3 sides are done.  Currently my travel piece.  With no deadline, and just for me just for fun, I'm ok with slow progress on this one.

• Additional couching & laid work pieces. The June 2016 deadline is for a very special presentation to the East Kingdom embroidery guild, Keepers of Athena's Thimble.  In addition to the master work of the Marshall Hanging, I need supporting pieces in other forms of laid and couched work.  There will be posts as these are done. Some research and Pinteresting have been done.  One of the pieces has been determined in plan, but won't be presented until February so no posts.  I promise, that's the last "it's secret, no posts until given" item for a while.

Current project list/status (Modern): (oh, look, no progress here.... working on a deadline will do that).

• Knitted Salto fingerless gloves from Craftsy kit using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend.  I'm so close to done on this one.  It was a lovely kit, which unfortunately didn't have enough of the yarn.  I got another skein and have to wind it off and finish. 

• Knitted vest for Joe.  Knitting is done.  Just have to do blocking, weave in the ends and sew on the buttons.  Really need to get on this so he can wear it to Rhinebeck this year.

• Skirts for work.  One skirt that had been languishing in my studio has had some work done, and now just needs a hem.  I also have some lovely blue and white fabric waiting to be the next skirt. 

• Alpaca stole.  Beautiful yellow alpaca yarn purchased at Rhinebeck last year has been wound.  This is my next knitting project, and should be cast on in time to be what I'm working on at this year's Rhinebeck. I'm going to be using a pattern found on Ravelry, the Bay of Fundy Scarf. I think it will be lovely in the yellow. I'm pretty sure this will be my reward for finishing the current deadline item.  

Schuette

Since I mentioned it yesterday, I thought I'd talk a bit about Schuette -- more accurately, A Pictorial History of Embroidery by Marie Schuette and Sigrid Muller-Christensen.

The photo on the cover is actually the back of a piece

Originally published in German in 1963, the copy I have was published in English in the US in 1964.


There are 464 black and white plates and 29 color plates of embroidery spanning from the 5th Century B.C. to the 29th Century.  It opens with two short articles - 6 pages of materials and techniques (with some excellent stitch diagrams) and just over 11 pages of Historical Introduction.  After the plates there is a catalog which provides a short write up about the piece.

The photos are pretty good.  There are both overall photos and detail. It is true that better photos are available now -- photography resolution has come a long way in over 50 years -- but in most of them good detail can be seen.

Detail shots of the linen altar cloth discussed yesterday

My favorite use of Schuette is as a jumping off point.  If I'm looking for inspiration for a new piece, I will pull it out and just leaf through.  Once I find a piece that sparks my interest, I check the catalog for information and look to see what more detailed information may be available.

Unfortunately, Schuette has been out of print for a very long time, and it is not an inexpensive book.  Some libraries have it (usually non-circulating) and many embroiderers have it. If you have an opportunity to peruse this book, do so.  If you're going to be seeing me, for instance, let me know you'd like to look at mine and I'll bring it along.

Are there better, newer embroidery books out there?  Maybe.  There are certainly ones with better photos of some of the items.  There are newer resources with information not included in Schuette.  There are whole books written covering just a handful of the items shown, or a short period.  Still, it is Schuette that I turn to when considering a new project; it is Schuette that I turn to when I need images to show to a class, and it is Schuette that I pull from my shelves when I just want to revel in the glory of over 20 centuries of thread art.

Linen on Linen

I will be participating next weekend in a demo at the German Society of Philadelphia.  I was particularly requested to talk to participants about German embroidery.  I'm putting together a little bit of a slide show of some of my favorite pieces from the area now known as Germany, as well as little kits for a brick stitch square for those so inclined.  German embroidery includes much more than the brick stitch pieces, though.  I'm working to include some of the different styles in my slide show.

One of those styles is the linen on line, or white work known as Opus Teutonicum. It is primarily from the 13th and 14th centuries, such as this altar cloth at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1948.352) is all white linen thread on white linen and has been dated to circa 1350.  On my first trip to the Cleveland it was hanging in a hallway.  I got some photos, but it was still in the days of film cameras and I will need to hunt down the actual physical prints.  This altar cloth is plates 154-157 in Schuette* lists four stitches.

Another one of the pieces that will be in my slide show is this hanging in the V&A, Museum number T.126-1931

This piece is dated 1587 so is quite late in SCA "Period."  It uses a larger variety of stitches (7 by the museum's count) and is worked in both brown and white linen threads on linen.

As so often happens, researching or assembling one thing leads me down another path. As I grow in my enjoyment of free embroidery stitches (when I started I was primarily a counted embroidery person -- now I'm about 50/50), I contemplate that something based on the Teutonicum will be in my future. 

But for now, back to pieces already in rotation, and planning a talk.

*Schuette refers to A Pictorial History of Embroidery, (Schuette, Marie and Muller-Christensen, Sigrid, King, Donald, Trans. Frederick A. Praeger, 1964)